Once again, I'm several months out from my last post! Not that I haven't been busy, I am still working on the house, slowly making progress but have a ways to go yet. Haven't posted many new pictures in a while, but there are over 400 photos here: House Re-do Photos

The other big event in my life in the past two months was a trip to Indonesia to visit my sister, brother-in-law, and my three nieces and nephew. I headed over there on March 18th and came back on April 1st, an awesome trip to say the least! Here is a fairly extensive recap of the first half of the trip (see the end for a link to photos):
[Read More!]

I drove down to Texas with a couple of friends back on February 6th and did the Texas Half Marathon. I actually thought I had a chance of running a PR, instead I ran my slowest 1/2 marathon since 2001 when I started running. I even ran slower than I did when I dressed up in a gorilla suit for a 4 mile race!

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that I even have the opportunity to run and I fully understand and appreciate that many people would be happy with the time I ran. The bottom line is I'm not happy with it and it is up to me to quit monkeying around and run better next time!

I don't post much on my blog, but I'm usually pretty good about posting at least two things a year, an end of the year recap as well as a seasonal list of goals. Back in February of 2008 I posted the following goals:

1. 5k - Bettering my 04' PR of 17:23
2. 1/2 marathon - Bettering my 03' PR of 1:24:45
3. Marathon - Bettering my 04' PR of 3:06:39
4. 1/2 Ironman - Bettering an 05' PR of 4:45:23 and attempting to go sub 4:30:00 at Ironman 70.3 Lawrence
[Read More!]

Most endurance athletes are familiar with VO2 max testing, but for anyone who isn't, VO2 simply means "volume of oxygen" and one's VO2 max is the maximum volume of oxygen that a person can use. It is measured in milliliters per kilogram of body weight per minute (ml/kg/min).

I've had my VO2 max tested four times in the past 6 years and when I heard of an opportunity to be part of a study and get a free test done, I jumped at it! Not only would I have the VO2 testing done, I would also get a DEXA scan done which is a very accurate measurement of one's body density and is useful for things such as body composition and bone density. Having these two tests done on my own would easily run in the neighborhood of $200 or more. [Read More!]

Wow, hard to believe I haven't made a new post since May! I've been busy, but really I ought to take the time to at least make weekly updates. Fresh content drives visits and by not having posted fresh content since May, chances are the few vistors I've had in the past have probably given up on finding anything new here...

It's not like I haven't raced. I've updated my results with most of my races from this year, I have a few more to put up. I've had some success, which is surprising as my training has been sub par. Most of my free time has been spent working on the house I mentioned in my previous post. When I'm not working on my house I'm probably spending time with my girlfriend, Cary Skelton. Needless to say, finding time to train is difficult and time or desire to update this site has been lacking. I'll try to do better...

Many of you already know this, but I bought a house and am trying to get it ready to move into by the end of the month. It is a fixer-upper, but I only paid 20k for it, though it sold a year ago for 40k+... Here is a link to some pictures: Link

After a disappointing run in the Jay Dix 10k on Saturday, I was hoping Sunday would be a great chance for some redemption. The duathlon was being held in New Town which is just outside of St Charles, MO. The race didn't start until 10am Saturday morning which was great as that provided me plenty of time to get up early and watch the London Marathon on the internet! After watching Ryan Hall run a scintillating 2:06:17 taking 5th place, I was on my way to St. Louis to see what I could do on a cold and windy day with an occasional snow flake in the air! [Read More!]